


Midnights

by kyochisas



Category: Dangan Ronpa, Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Other, Pre-Despair, also childhood, he tried his best, he was a good dad he just did some shitty things, i just really want to talk about the headmaster ok
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-05
Updated: 2016-07-05
Packaged: 2018-07-21 19:41:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7401226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kyochisas/pseuds/kyochisas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nighttimes aren't so kind to Kyouko Kirigiri.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Midnights

**Author's Note:**

> JIN KIRIGIRI IS THE DAD WE DESERVE.
> 
> HE LOVED HIS DAUGHTER AND HE TRIED HIS BEST HE JUST FUCKED UP. A LOT.
> 
> I WANT JIN TO SEE HIS DAUGHTER AGAIN.

When Kyouko was 5 years old, she would be woken up by the thunder outside her window that crackled during the storm season.

The lilac haired girl didn't like thunder - it was like a low rumble of a caged animal coming to eat her alive. Whenever it rained, she would clamber out of bed, shaking like a leaf, making her way in the dark down the hallway to the light coming from the room at the other side. Holding the plush lamb she cuddled in bed with her, she would push the door of the lit-up room open, eyes still misty.  
"D-Daddy? Are you working again?"  
The noise of his daughter caused Jin to look up from his work and turn, his expression softening when he saw the shadow of the girl in the doorway. "...Yes, I am. What's the matter? Is it the thunder again?"  
Kyouko nodded without another word, a thunder crackle from her father's window causing her to jump in surprise. Her tiny frame shaking more, she tugged at the plush rabbit in her arms, trying to make herself seem smaller to the thunder wouldn't eat her. She heard her father laugh a little (he was always at these moments how glad he was to have a child to take care of, someone to call his own) and get up from his chair, and her whimpering slowed down when she felt him hug her, bending down to her level and resting her forehead on his shoulder.  
"It's OK, sweetie... It's not going to get you."  
"You... you promise it won't, right Daddy?"  
"Of course." Jin lent back to look at her, taking a thumb and wiping the tears out of her eyes before planting a kiss on her forehead. "I won't let anyone touch my little girl. Now come on, get back in bed. I'll stay with you until the thunder goes, OK?"  
"...O-OK."

When Kyouko started elementary school, her mother got sick. She was worried for not only her dying mother, but her father too, who seemed more distant, and who focused on work a lot more. She was scared. She started to lose sleep. She had nightmares.

A familiar knocking rose Jin from his working coma after hours with no break, resulting in him giving a loud sigh and a yawn as he glanced at the clock on the edge of his desk. 11pm. Had the time really passed that quickly? Covering his mouth in an attempt to block another yawn, he didn't get up in time to greet the familiar sight standing in the shadow of his desk lamp.  
"...Kyouko, it's-"  
"I had a nightmare again."  
"...Another one?"  
She nodded, looking down at her feet, and though it was it was easy to see she was ashamed. She was a big girl now, after all - she couldn't be scared by things like dreams, right?  
Jin frowned a little, glancing back to his clock, and then to the paperwork he had been drowning himself in. A half-blank job application form stared him back in the face - Headmaster of Hope's Peak Academy. He had to get this done by tonight-  
Before he could say no, Kyouko chipped in again. "…Can I have a bedtime story?"  
"A bedtime story? Aren't you a little old for-"  
"Daddy, I'm scared… please."  
Another frown, as even in the shadow of light he could see how close his daughter was to tears. It was a facial expression like that he couldn't turn down - his wife always said he was too soft for his own good. "Fiiiine… which one do you want?"

When Kyouko first started high school, she was greeted with something she hadn't seen in a long time - unsettling visions in her sleep. Nightmares.

She shot awake in a cold sweat, breathing heavily as slowly she settled back to normal. The night was dark, storm clouds hanging in the sky, ready to attack with crackles of tumbling electricity at any time. Arms reached on instinct to wrap around herself tears stinging her eyes as she made sure to look away from the window. She was afraid. A nightmare had risen her from slumber, and now the growling of distant weather was keeping her from sleeping. Yet, in this time of need, there was only one person she could think of.

Jin Kirigiri. Her father who had left her so long ago.

She remembered how she loved him as a child. How she yearned for his approval. How she loved every waking moment she spent with him. How all three of them (her, her father and her mother) would go to the park to feed the ducks and play in the playground. How they all would hold hands. How they would go eat out together and how she listened to her father quietly tut when she got ramen all over her shirt. How she rambled to him for hours and hours about being a detective, and she would call him her Watson. How after PTA meetings he would say how proud of her she was.

"…Father…" The words left her mouth absentmindedly after all these years, and with that, she became a mess, sobbing and shaking sat up in her bed in the dead of a stormy night.

Somewhere far away, Jin Kirigiri was still awake, typing away with a feeling in his gut that he just couldn't shake. Deep violet eyes glanced to the photo on his desk, gaze lingering on the image of his smiling daughter. Somehow, he felt she was suffering. Stroking the glass of the frame, he forced a small smile.

"…Don't worry, Kyouko. Daddy's always watching over you. …And he loves you lots. OK?"

 

**Author's Note:**

> OK confession time; writing this fic shook me up a little bit.
> 
> Without going in to too much detail, my relationship with my own father is a bit fucked up. I'm not that close to him, much like Kyouko isn't with hers.
> 
> But there is no way I want characters to live with the same regrets I have. I never want to see my father again because I know he's not a good person. But, as much as I've heard some fans claim, Jin Kirigiri is not like my father. He is not a bad person - he is a human because he made mistakes. And Kyouko, as stubborn as she is, must know that deep down.
> 
> The relationship between Jin and Kyouko is important to me. The Kirigiri's are important to me. It makes me sick when people claim things that simply aren't true.
> 
> I'm sorry this got so personal, but I just wanted to say that if you guys have shitty parents, come to me. I can relate. I'll be your new parents. Yes, both of them.
> 
> (Also I may write more things about characters and their parents/guardians. What do you guys think?)


End file.
